What I Would Have Done - Self Insert
by rrughani
Summary: A freak train accident in the mundane world leads to myself being woken up at the Leaky Cauldron on the day Harry Potter became the Boy-who-lived. This story will go through what I would have done differently knowing what I know from the books and from fanfiction. Raising Harry, Self-Insert, Slight Dumbledore Bashing.
1. Chapter 1

**HP Fanfiction – Self Insert – What I Would Have Done**

 **Chapter 1:**

 _This is a self-insert fanfiction which takes place from the day that Dumbledore leaves Harry Potter on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive. The idea is that my person would be able to take him into a nearby house instead and whilst close enough to be in the blood wards, raise him into someone who will understand love and have a better fighting chance, and be able to use better logic in certain scenarios. I will not have taken the books with me, so will sort of know the main plot points, will not remember everything that happened and thus can still be surprised. Unsure what to do about Sirius and Remus so far. Will be slightly Dumbledore bashing and I will never reveal the future to him, but in the end, he still is in the good. The horcrux will be removed from Harry's head by a ritual from the Goblins, that Dumbledore never considered due to his slight arrogance (which is part of his bashing), but Dumbledore will not have placed any blocks or limitations on Harry's magic as shown in other fanfics._

 _Also, whilst my character might have ideas as to who Harry should have gotten together with, the point is that he can make those decisions himself, and won't be afraid of having more friends than just the two he had in the books. ON TO THE STORY…_

 _Disclaimer: This world in no way shape or form belongs to me. I am definitely not J.K. Rowling_

There I was, an 18-year-old man ready to start off the next great adventure into university. A couple years ago I had decided to be a journalist, and I finished high school doing relatively well. I was by no means a genius, just an average but hard-working student. On my way to University of Edinburgh in Scotland by train, I was perusing through on my iPhone, looking at the latest Harry Potter fanfiction. My current obsession was the typical Harry and Hermione go back in time to prevent the love potion Weasley family from happening. Although I generally found those fanfics quite funny, I never thought that it would be likely that Harry would fall for such potions when he could fight the imperius curse.

Suddenly, I heard a bang towards the front of the train, and then there were screams as the people closer to the front of the train saw whatever the problem was. I looked around the seat in front of me to try and peek at what was going on in the other carriages, and immediately huge flame came through into our carriage. I stumbled away from the heat but fell hard onto the floor. Then I saw black.

As I slowly came around, I felt the bedsheets underneath me and a blanket over my lower body. I slowly got up and tried to remember what happened to me last. I remembered the heat and the flames from the train, so why was I here? And where exactly was here? I found my glasses on the bedside table, but I also found a wooden stick next to it, similar to my replica Harry Potter wand I had at home.

I looked around once again and saw a window show that the day had just begun. I could see people in strange clothing and weird hats roaming around. I saw owls during daytime flying about as if it were normal. I slowly stumbled back to my bed trying to wrap my mind around what exactly was going on. I looked at the mirror on the right of my bed and I saw that I definitely looked like myself, wearing dark blue jeans with a white t-shirt as if I was still on my way to university.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! "You-know-who's dead, Mr. Stark! It's all over the front of the Daily Prophet! Apparently, Harry Potter, bless the kid, survived the killing curse and You-know-who died because of it. Don't ask me, I haven't a clue as to how it happened. Here, I'll toss you one of my Daily's, free courtesy of the Leaky of course." The man behind my door slipped the newspaper through the gap available.

I responded in the only way I knew how, "Thank you for the paper sir."

"Ah lad, I told you yesterday when you walked in, there's no need to call me sir, the name's Tom. Plain and simple really."

"All right Tom, thanks a ton!"

"No problem kid, let me know later if you are staying another night." Tom said as he moved away from my room's door.

I quickly jumped off the bed and picked up the paper, and all the people from the pictures were moving in it. The main headline read, "YOU-KNOW-WHO DEAD! Boy-who-lived saved us all!" And right at the top right of the page the date stamped on was 1st November 1981. I sat back down to contemplate exactly what was going on. It seemed like I had just been dumped into my favorite fantasy series, right at the beginning of the seven-book saga. Or I was simply hallucinating. I decided to do the stereotypical thing and pinch myself to see if this was real, and it seemed to be so.

Clearly something must have happened to me when the accident on the train occurred, but for whatever reason I was stuck at what appeared to be the Leaky Cauldron with nothing but the clothes I was wearing, my glasses and the stick on the bedside table. I then realized what the stick must be, because if I truly ended up in J.K. Rowling's universe then that stick would be my wand! I reached to pick up the wand and as soon as I did I was hit with a barrage of information about myself in this world.

Whilst my name was the same as my mundane life's one, Jack Stark, pretty much everything else I saw was different. Growing up in an orphanage rather than with parents, because they had died early in the magical version of my life. Being told about magic by Professor McGonagall when she came to visit after my eleventh birthday. Being happy to leave the orphanage where I really had no friends, I was sorted into Ravenclaw and became close with a few of the people in my dorm. I was three years behind the marauders and had very few glimpses of their time in school, except for the public date proposals of James Potter to Lily Evans.

I graduated with 6 N.E.W.T.s; Defence Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology. For most of them I received O's and I was a generally magically proficient, yet reserved muggle-born. Alongside this information came the news that my magical self must have gathered yesterday. Due to the raid of Diagon Alley the previous week, my last friend from our group of students had been taken out by an anonymous death eater.

All this information flooded into my mind the second I touched the wand. What was odd was that I had memories of both lifetimes, but I felt more connected to my mundane 21st century memories than those of the magical world, and thus didn't really feel the need to grieve for Robert and John, my two recently deceased best friends. I realized that I had an opportunity of a life-time here, to help Harry Potter finally kill off Voldemort, and I needed to make a list of things to do. Before I could search for a pen and paper, or rather a quill and some parchment, a flutter of wings made me realize that an owl had entered the room. I quickly untied the parchment and read it to see that it was a summons from Gringotts for 11am that morning to go through Robert's will. I didn't have anything to offer the brown owl, and realizing that it took off and flew out of the small owl hole of the room and back presumably to the goblins.

I must have stopped for a few minutes to really digest the information I had just gotten. I was an actual person in this universe, with no real family and all most completely all dead friends. I really could do anything that I had dreamt of all those times I read fanfiction and the real books. I then decided to try out some of the magic I could now remember. " _Wingardium Leviosa!"_ I said as I pointed to the bedside table, and as it raised up I could feel the energy coming through the wand I had. It was truly remarkable, I was giddy with happiness.

I also realized I could do so much to change the way the story occurred this time around. There was no way I was going to sit back and just let things happen the way they were. I ran downstairs and asked for some parchment and a quill, noting that I had to buy muggle equipment soon enough. I quickly made a list of things I could do to help Harry out.

See how much money I really had

Examine the wards around #4 Privet Drive to see if I could raise Harry instead

If I had to leave him at his aunt's place then I would look at being able to support him as a neighbour instead

Taking out some books on warding myself and any new property I might buy

Ask the Goblins about Horcruxes and if there was any method to remove one from a person

Sirius Black? Remus Lupin?

I was unsure about what to do about those two as for sure by now Sirius would already be in jail and be quite impossible to get a trial without finding Wormtail. And did I really think Remus deserved to be in Harry's life? Perhaps I should give him a chance and see if he came around to look out for him by himself.

As the morning was moving on, I walked down to the lobby of the Leaky Cauldron, asked for a quick meal, before making my way towards Gringotts in time for the will reading. I briefly thought about my mundane family, but decided to deal with those thoughts after today.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 2:**

As I walked into the lobby of Gringotts, I saw the goblins all busy and quiet with their paperwork. I quickly walked towards the nearest teller and showed him the summons for Robert's will. He said some orders in Gobbledegook to a goblin behind him, and I was told to follow the second goblin. I decided to remain quiet, as I had very little knowledge from either life about goblin mannerisms and I really didn't want to piss them off.

We finally entered a room that said _Wills of the Deceased_ and inside there was a single goblin who looked like he would rather be anywhere else. He had a permanent scowl on his face, more so than the other goblins. I guess this must have been a rather lowly position at Gringotts. The goblin escorting me said another couple words in Gobbledegook, before turning and leaving the room.

The remaining goblin slowly lifted his head in order to see me before saying, "Greetings human. My name is Ripfang and I will be making sure you get the money stated in Robert Greene's will. Along with you, there are four other people mentioned in the will, however they have all died and thus you will be inheriting all his gold. Here is the parchment and a blood quill for you to sign and accept the gold."

I looked at the parchment and saw that it seemed standard enough, but still didn't state how much gold I was getting. "Mr. Ripfang, is there a way for me to know exactly how much money I am actually inheriting?"

"Oh, I presumed you knew the financial status of Robert Greene. Nevertheless, he had just over 100,000 galleons in his vault. He only kept gold there, so there aren't any other artifacts of his that you could take." He replied.

"So that would be around half a million pounds in muggle currency?"

"Yes, the exchange rate currently is at 5.31 pounds per galleon. Would you like to convert it all into muggle currency now before you use it?"

I thought on it for a couple of seconds before saying, "Keep half of it in a vault here and give me the other half to put into a muggle bank. Would it be possible to get a bank transfer for that much in muggle currency that I could give to the bank without having to carry around that much money?"

Ripfang turned to side and screamed some orders before turning back and saying, "It will be done. Now hurry up and sign the document. I have other matters to attend to."

I quickly signed the document, barely feeling the prick on the back of my hand before passing it onto Ripfang. Another goblin jogged in from the side before giving the bank transfer for 250,000 pounds to me and a key for the rest of my money being kept in Gringotts. I didn't have the time now to deal with aspects of investments and other details, so I nodded respectfully and walked out of the room, through the lobby and into Diagon Alley.

I decided the next thing to do would be to go to Flourish and Blotts and find anything that would be useful in my quest to help Harry Potter. I found a couple books on raising magical children, which had charms and potions that would help in times of sickness or just in general life. It appeared to be easier than a regular old human baby, but really, I had no idea how different or similar it was. I found several books on warding in a muggle neighborhood, cooking using magic, and spells for household chores. These subjects, I felt were highly important if I wanted to properly be able to take care of little Harry. Finally, I saw a small book on magical adoption which I thought would be interesting to read, just as an option for what I might need to do with Harry.

I went to Madam Malkin's to get myself three wizarding outfits, for I felt I would be spending the majority of my time in the muggle world, at least until Harry went to Hogwarts. From there I stopped by at the junk shop to see if I could find something like Hermione's beaded bag in the last book. I found a leather satchel that went around one shoulder that had an undetectable extension charm placed on it. It was perfect for what I needed and I placed all my books and outfits into it. A feather-light charm later, I now had the perfect bag. Finally, I decided it was time to venture into the muggle world, to really begin my journey to help Harry Potter fulfil his destiny.

Stopping by for a quick meal at the café on Charing Cross road, I looked for the first bank that I could find to start up an account and I walked away from Standard Chartered Bank two hours later with a bunch of documents and a chequebook to use to buy a property near #4 Privet Drive. Hailing a taxi, I made my way over to Surry and onto that road so see if the ward had already been placed by Dumbledore. Doing a quick scan with my wand, I recognized a blood ward already in place, which means that Dumbledore had already been here once after the Potter's were killed to set it up. The Blood ward also went out a significant distance as well, it included four other houses around Petunia and Vernon's house.

I formulated a plan on what I could do to help Harry. The wards would include the four houses around the Dursley's, so he could be raised in any of the other houses as long as Petunia stayed at her house. So, I would need to buy one of the other houses, wait until Harry is dropped on the doorstep and pick him up instead and raise him in a nearby house to keep the wards going. Having decided on a plan, I went to look at #2, #3, #5 and #6 Privet Drive. All the houses were the same size, the bedrooms upstairs, a kitchen, living room and of course the cupboard under the stairs.

Out of the four houses, #2 looked like the place that would be the most ideal for me to buy and stay in. It housed an older couple who seemed to have lived there for quite a while. Although I didn't know legilimency, I disillusioned myself and silenced myself before walking in and getting an understanding of the families that lived in these houses through the photos that people had and what was in the rooms. Once I chose this house, I now had to convince the people living there to let me the buy the house as quick as possible, so I settled on stunning the two elderly people in the back, before using the household charms to pack almost all the items from the house into the travel bags that they had. I readied a 70,000 pounds bank cheque for the couple before placing all the bags into their car. Waking them up and confounding them to accept what I was saying, I informed them that they had just sold the house to me and had just finished packing before hitting their heads together in an accident, which is how I found them. They quickly agreed, took the cheque and drove off, seemingly quite happy with the amount I had given them. I could have given them much less, but considering I literally forced them to move away forever, I think it was worth paying more.

Now almost into the night, I made my way into the nearest Woolworth and got equipment for the house. Things like linens, plates, cleaning materials and gardening tools. All together I think I was quite ready to maintain a house, and of course with the help of a few handy spells. Soon I was relaxing in my brand-new house, waiting for the Dumbledore, Mcgonagall and Hagrid to leave the little Harry Potter on the door step of #4 Privet Drive.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 3:**

Having waited a couple hours more into the night, there was suddenly a blackout all over the street. None of the street lights were working anymore and I knew this must have meant that Albus Dumbledore had arrived and used his deluminator to darken the surroundings around #4 Privet Drive. Now I just had to wait around 30 minutes for the lights to turn back on before coming for the little kid. Whilst waiting, I started reading the books I had gotten on adopting a child magically. I knew that I could easily get the adoption done in the muggle world, but I didn't know how the process worked in the wizarding world. The book explained that the muggle adoption would be considered valid for anyone who isn't a pureblood, so as Harry is a half-blood, his adoption in the muggle world would be allowed by the ministry. Once the muggle adoption is done, then the guardian has to make his way to Gringotts to finalize the adoption in the magical world as well.

The lights abruptly came back on outside letting me know that it was time to pick up the kid. Slowly opening my front door, I heard the soft crack of apparition as I walked out. Walking towards the Petunia's house, I could see the bundle wrapped up with Harry Potter on the steps just in front of the house. Once I reached the boy, I waved my wand over him for a quick diagnostic of any magic being put on him. The only things I could see on him was a basic health stasis charm, a warming charm and a tracking charm. The health status one could definitely stay, but I needed to move the tracking charm from the boy. I moved the tracking charm onto me, before silencing my footsteps and disillusioning myself and then I walked into #4. Slowly climbing upstairs, I opened the door to the first room on the left and found it to be Dudley's room, I then shifted the charm from me onto baby Dudley so that Dumbledore would believe that Harry was growing with his aunt.

Quickly walking back out of the house, I picked up the letter that been placed on him and opened it up to read:

 _Dear Mrs. Petunia Dursley,_

 _It is with great regret that I must inform you of the death of your sister and her husband; Lily and James Potter. They were both amazing students who died in their home fighting one of the Darkest Wizards the world has seen._

 _When Lord Voldemort, the Dark Wizard mentioned above, reached young Harry Potter after killing his parents, some extraordinary magic managed to save him from being killed as well. This magic was tied into the magic of your sister, and thus he remains protected as long as he remains around someone of the same blood as Lily. By letting him call your house his home, it will grant not only him but also your family with best protection against Wizards who might want to finish the work of their Lord._

 _Whilst the world believes Lord Voldemort to be dead, I do not believe that is the case and thus it is imperative that he calls this place his home to prevent even the darkest of wizards from harming the boy and your family. Harry will re-join the wizarding world the same way your sister began, after his eleventh birthday when he goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

 _I know of your dislike towards the Wizarding population having heard about it from Lily. However, I would like to think that you will treat Harry like you treat your own son._

 _Yours Sincerely,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards, Headmaster of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry)_

I used the _Gemino_ spell to copy the letter before adjusting it for Petunia. It now read:

 _Dear Mrs. Petunia Dursley,_

 _It is with great regret that I must inform you of the death of your sister and her husband; Lily and James Potter. They were both amazing students who died in their home fighting one of the Darkest Wizards the world has seen named Lord Voldemort._

 _My deepest condolences,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards, Headmaster of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry)_

That letter was short and would just let Petunia know that her sister had been killed, and by not mentioning that Harry had survived, she would assume that everyone in the house had died and even if Lily had told her about Harry, she wouldn't have expected him to survive. I didn't really feel bad about the subterfuge because I knew the kind of emotional abuse the Dursley's gave Harry especially before he left for Hogwarts. This would keep the charade going that Harry was living with his Aunt at least up until he reached Hogwarts. I placed the forged letter through the mail slot before picking up Harry and the real letter and making my way back into my new home.

The first few days with Harry were rather interesting. Being only an 18-year-old, taking care of a child was never something that I thought would end up doing when I took that train ride up north for University. Using one of the charms that would let me know when Harry woke up, I made sure I was almost always around when he was awake and gave him what I thought was the right kind of attention. After a week in I realized that I hadn't yet left the house, and I knew I had to get him comfortable with the outside world as well. Knowing that I could leave him at home when he was asleep, I used the time when Harry took afternoon naps to first get myself a driving license, then to buy a car, the latest Vauxhall Astra 2-door, and a few toys for Harry to be able to play with.

For the next two weeks, I settled into the house by painting the walls, buying a few electronics, and filling up the pantry for food. I wanted Harry to maintain a connection to his parents as well so I took the rare opportunity to get into Diagon Alley and made my way into the second-hand bookshop and found an archive of old Daily Prophets. I found the one paper I was looking for which had the information of James and Lily's wedding and in it there was a wizarding picture of the couple on that day. I took that picture home and set it up in Harry's room for him to remember.

I also took him to the adoption agency in London to make sure my having him was done completely legally. I explained, using a mild _confundus_ at the time to make the operator trust me, that I had found him on my road without any information except his name, and having briefly known his parents in school as I was a few years behind him, I felt that I could take him in since I knew he had no family. The operator accepted my story and asked me if I wanted for him to take my last name, but knowing how powerful the Potter name is in the Wizarding world I added it instead to his middle name. When we left the agency my boy's name was Harry James Stark Potter.

The next step was to go to Gringotts with Harry and finalize the adoption. Walking into Gringotts once again, I made my way to the nearest teller and asked for the area on adoption. One of the Goblins by the teller told me to follow him and so we made our way towards a door that had the words _Adoption and Blood-line Management_. I walked in with Harry in my arms and stopped in front of the desk that had a different Goblin seated behind it.

As soon as he saw us he cleared his throat and said, "Greeting human. My name is Swipeclaw, what can I do for you today?"

Surprised by the lack of malice towards us, I took a moment before replying, "Hello Mr. Swipeclaw, my name is Jack Stark and I am here to confirm the muggle adoption that I have done of half-blood Harry James Potter, now known as Harry James Stark Potter."

"Well then Mr. Stark, we have to make sure that you are who you say you are, we will need to prick both you and Mr. Potter for some blood."

Once the whole process was done and we were confirmed as who we were, I was asked to sign a form similar to the muggle one that stated that I would be the guardian of Harry James Potter. Once, the document was signed using a blood quill Swipeclaw spoke again, "Well Mr. Stark, congratulations on your adoption of Mr. Potter. Along with the adoption the Potters have set up a 50-galleon payment per month into the new guardian of Mr. Potter, which you will now receive to take care of the boy. Do you have someone managing your account here?"

"No not really, I probably should get one. How do I go about getting a manager?"

"Well, I personally will be finishing my time at the adoption and blood-line management office this year and will be moving into a higher status that allows me to take on managing medium level vault-holders once January comes. Or you can go back to the teller you met and ask for another one from him."

Realizing how much more pleasant Swipeclaw was compared to Ripfang and the tellers I had met, I quickly agreed to meet up with him in the new year when he moved office. I walked back out into Diagon Alley with Harry and stopped by Eeylops Owl Emporium to find myself some way to contact Swipeclaw if I needed to. Looking around and not seeing anything like a snowy old like Hedwig, I found a small tawny owl that looked extremely speedy and paid for him. I decided to call him Bolt and the owl seemed to agree to the name. Finally, taking the Harry and Bolt, I made my way back home.

Slowly in the next few weeks we got into a routine. Harry now had started calling me dad, which at first was a complete surprise, but really made me quite ecstatic. We started to meet with the neighbours and get integrated into the community around us. I had made quite good friends with the people around us, and most of the neighbours thought that Harry was absolutely adorable. Opposite our house was a lady named Shelly who dotted on Harry and sent food over every week to make sure that Harry was eating right. A few houses down on our street there was a nice couple who had a child that was a couple years older than Harry, they were the Smith's. And although Dudley was the same age as Harry, they didn't seem to get along and thus our interaction with the Dursleys was quite limited.

Unsurprisingly a new neighbour popped up on Magnolia Crescent, which was the street right behind Privet Drive. Her name was Arabella Figg whom I knew to be one of the people form the Order of the Pheonix and therefore I had to do something to make sure that she would not let Dumbledore know that Harry wasn't living with the Dursleys. Leaving Harry asleep at home, I made my way towards her house to put a compulsion on her. Hearing my knock on her door, she opened it up and asked me to come in. As soon as she turned around I used a non-verbal _stupefy_ to bring her down. The compulsion spell I used made her relay very little information about Harry except that he seems healthy and that he lived with the Dursleys. The reasoning behind the lack of information was because Harry didn't like the cats that she owned. I thought that Dumbledore would be happy with that amount of information on Harry. I revived her, before explaining that she had hit her head and asking if she needed the doctor. Soon after I made my way back home, reminding myself to check up on Figg every once in a while, so that the compulsion remains.

 _Next up will be the Gringotts Account meeting which will discuss the Hocrux and any investments. As someone in the 80's what would I invest in muggle UK? And Harry starts pre-school in the next chapter which will bring up some dialogue between Harry and Jack. Once Preschool starts, Jack will do a lot more in both the muggle and wizarding world._


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 4:**

With the beginning of the new year came an owl from Gringotts and Swipeclaw asking to meet him in the next few days. I took Harry with me because I wanted a view point on the hocrux, which the Goblins might have an explanation for. Apparating just outside Diagon Alley and making our way towards Gringotts, I saw a someone that I didn't really expect to see at all for at least ten years. Ducking in behind one of the buildings I saw a man who could only be a Remus Lupin walking away from Gringotts. I almost considered running up towards him and telling him all about Harry, but then I remembered what he was like in the stories. Only showing up in the third book, and not for Harry but because Sirius was loose. And after third year, he never seemed to get really involved in Harry's life at all. As he was a loyal Dumbledore supporter I myself could not approach him, but if he came looking for Harry and actually showed some interest in him then I would let him know.

Bypassing him and entering Gringotts once again, I went towards the teller and asked for Swipeclaw. Following the teller's assistant for a much longer time than during the last few times, we eventually made it to Swipeclaw.

I greeted him, "Hello Mr. Swipeclaw, I'm glad that you can now manage my account on behalf of Gringotts."

"Greetings Mr. Stark, I am quite happy about the promotion as well. And please do call me Swipeclaw."

"Very well, then please call me Jack. Firstly, how confidential are our meetings, and the information that the Harry Potter is my ward?"

He responded, "All our meetings are completely confidential, just like everything in your vault is confidential from any other goblins or humans. The ministry cannot get information from us."

I smiled, "Perfect! So, before I bring up something extremely serious, what do we need to discuss?"

Grinning, he said, "Well you have a decent amount of money in your vault thanks to the money from Robert's vault and every month you are getting a substantial 50 galleons from the Potter vault. I would recommend investing a significant amount of the money in the vault. Do you have any preference for where you want to invest in?"

I thought about the stores in Diagon Alley and didn't really recall any of the books I read saying anything about the right place to invest in apart from the Weasley store. However, one of the main issues Harry faced last time was the printed media, and how people's view of him changed so quickly due to it.

I asked, "How difficult is it to get significant control over the Daily Prophet?"

He pulled some parchment out of a drawer on his desk, and after reading through it he said, "Currently there is some volatility about who will have significant ownership over the newspaper. Lucius Malfoy looks most likely to own the majority of the paper with what appears as Cornelius Fudge helping him as well. However, with the money you have at your disposal, you can quietly get over fifty percent of the business in several years. However, I would recommend doing it with several aliases, so as not to concern the purebloods."

Now sporting a full smile, I said, "That sounds great. It would be great if that could be done before Harry gets into Hogwarts. Another thing, I might have skirted past most of the muggle laws when it comes to owning a house. I just got the people staying at the current house to sign this paper saying that the house was mine and in return they got 70,000 pounds. Is that correct legally?"

"That was probably not completely correct, but I'll take care of it in both the wizarding and muggle worlds. Would you like me to take care of the muggle investing as well at your muggle branch?"

After I agreed, I took a deep breath before asking, "Do the Goblins have any knowledge of the magic of Hocruxes?"

His eyes widened, "Yes, we need to know what sort of magical items are in any and all of our vaults. We definitely have seen a few of those kinds of items."

Sighing, I said, "Well, although I have next to know information on that kind of magic, I do believe that Harry over here has a one of those abominations in his scar, is there a way to check for that?"

He quickly shouted out in Gobbledegook and another goblin walked in before taking more orders and walking back out. "A goblin healer is on her way, she will be able to let us know if that is the case." In no time, a female goblin came in and walked towards us.

She said, "Greetings human. My name is Irmace and I will be doing a diagnostic about a possible hocrux in the little human, correct?" I quickly nodded and then she used the goblin form of magic to put him to sleep, before chanting in the goblin tongue. A minute of chanting later, a red glow came from the scar before dissipating. She turned towards us and said, "He does have a horcrux on him, but it is not completely connected to his own soul. Something is stopping the soul from bounding the way it should, which allows us to be able to take it out. Would you like us to deal with that now?"

I quickly agreed and soon there were three other healer goblins entering the chamber and standing around Harry. They soon started the chanting and applying different salves to the scar on his head. After fifteen minutes of chanting Harry abruptly started shaking wildly, forcing Swipeclaw to contain Harry with his goblin magic. Finally, a black ooze came out directly from the scar before it was trapped into a brick like object. This allowed Harry to calm down and slowly wake up whilst the healers moved the brick object away from him. I quickly made my way over to him and picked him up in a hug, and he clung onto me. The goblins had a potion with them that they poured a couple drops onto the brick, and a scream emanated from the object for a few seconds before it was destroyed into ash. As quickly as they came in, the healer goblins left and I sat there for a bit rather stunned with the ongoing events. I cleared my throat and said, "Well then Swipeclaw, those are really quite foul items. How comes it didn't connect to his soul completely?"

"One can't be completely sure, but perhaps the person whose horcrux this belonged to couldn't stand something about Harry, I assume this is the Dark Lord's hocrux?"

"Yes, it was his horcrux. Maybe, the protection Harry's mother put in place for him is still in place and thus stopped him from connecting to the horcrux. Honestly it doesn't matter, there is no longer a part of Voldemort in Harry."

Swipeclaw looked as relieved as me, "Thankfully yes, I will endeavour to follow through on our previous discussion about the Daily Prophet. Good luck Jack."

I smiled and said, "Thank you for your support, good luck to you too Swipeclaw." I then picked up the little one and made my way outside the bank before apparating back home.

\- Time Skip -

For the next six months, I went through really all the motions of taking care of a child. Luckily, Harry was a very intelligent child and therefore quickly understood things quite fast. I never had any problems with potty training, feeding or getting him to sleep. But, he was an extremely curious child. Whenever he would be outside in the garden playing whilst I made sure the grass stayed a suitable level, he would come back into the house carrying worms in his hands, very eager to show me. Once, he dragged me over excitedly to an ant hill at the park saying, "Da! Look!" I always tried to show the same enthusiasm he did for the little things, which I hope will make him a very different person from the Harry Potter that grew up in the cupboard under the stairs.

After his second birthday, I had been told that Harry was ready for Pre-school and enrolled him in a small school near the area called My World. The first day I dropped Harry off, he was rather upset at me and cried for a while before he was distracted by the number of other kids there. From then on, he was rather happy to be going to "Schoo!" as he called it.

Whilst he was at pre-school, I had to figure out what I wanted to do either in the wizarding or muggle world. I wanted to stay involved in his life due to all the issues he faces at Hogwarts, but having a job in the muggle world would prevent me from doing so. I then decided that in order to help him out I would have to take up a role at Hogwarts, and what better position for me than the muggle studies professor. I knew that from the books a pureblood ended up teaching Muggle Studies and it was considered one of the worst classes. I could have gone into Defence Against the Dark Arts, but then I would somehow be unable to stay for more than one year. So I decided that I needed to find out how to be the muggle studies teacher by the time Harry got into Hogwarts.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 5:**

Over the next few years I studied to be a proper history teacher at the nearby university in Surrey. I chose history as my subject to study for several reasons. Firstly, I had to choose an aspect of knowledge that I could learn to teach without it clashing too much with my prior life from the future. The sciences had developed significantly in the future of when I finished high school. So, none of the sciences were a possibility to teach. I could have learnt how to teach math, but that wouldn't really have been overly useful at Hogwarts for magical students. So, I decided on history as I thought that it would be the most useful for the kids at Hogwarts to know at least some of, so that they would get a real appreciation of how powerful the muggle world is.

In those four years that I was at university whenever Harry was at preschool, the kid grew up quite a lot. He was quite smart, something I felt he would have been without the influence of the Dursleys in the original timeline. Not hindered by the notorious reputation that he did have in the book, most of the neighbours were quite kind towards him and were always appreciative of how well-behaved he was. However, he was now part of the same primary school that Dudley Dursley was in, which led to a whole lot of interesting scenarios. The first time Dudley had called Harry a freak, this must have come from Petunia somehow, both Petunia and I were called into the school to deal with the problem. Petunia, probably upon seeing me actually come into the school with a car, rather than a 'freakish' method of travel, convinced herself that I, and Harry, were normal people. So, she agreed that Dudley shouldn't have called Harry a freak, and it wasn't heard of ever again.

The first bout of accidental magic that was big enough for Harry to start asking question was when he got jam on his favourite white t-shirt. He was rather upset about it, and then suddenly the t-shirt was completely cleaned, which was when he turned around and asked me, "Dad, how did it become clean?".

I sat him down and explained to him that there were some people around the world who could use magic, which as it would for any six-year-old got him extremely excited. I showed him my wand, letting him know that he would be able to get one when he was eleven years old, before he went to Hogwarts, which was a magical school in Scotland. He was bursting with giddiness when I turned the living room table into a small puppy that cuddled up to him. But, I also had to explain that he could not tell anyone who was not magical, that there was such a thing called magic. When he asked me why he couldn't tell Andrew, his best friend, about magic, I told him I would explain properly when he was eight, but that we could get into trouble with the magical police, and then we would be put in jail. He seemed willing to wait until he was eight to get more answers thankfully. So, whilst magic did come up in our discussions, we continued to live life as muggles would.

Once I was done with my university degree, I started studying for my OWL's and NEWT's in muggle studies, something which I hadn't done at Hogwarts in my magical life. The two tests were rather easy as they asked about a lot of basic aspects of a muggle's life and a few questions on ancient British muggle history. The mastery level exams were surprisingly much more in depth, I was asked to write essays in the prescribed time on several topics that really were quite interesting. Things such as how powerful muggles really were, the part that religion plays in a muggle's life, and the basics behind electricity. All in all, I passed through all tests with almost perfect scores, which would set me up perfectly to take over the muggle studies role once Harry and I got to Hogwarts.

The day after I obtain a mastery I get an owl that comes by with a letter that had a ministry seal. At first, I felt a brief moment of panic before realizing that everything that I had done with Harry had been completely legal and thus the ministry couldn't pin with anything. So, I picked out the letter from the owl before placing a bowl of water down for the brown bird, and opened it up to take a read:

 _Dear Mr. Stark,_

 _It has come to my attention that you recently completed a mastery in the subject of Muggle Studies, something that no-one has done for decades. Alongside your status as a muggle-born, your grades also show a fantastic understanding of muggles than anyone else before._

 _We have received many complaints from parents who have children at Hogwarts due to our curriculum of Muggle Studies, and thus I would like to invite you to a meeting to discuss if you would like to help the ministry change the way the subject is taught. If you are agreeable, please come by to my office at the Ministry of Magic at 9:00 am tomorrow._

 _The owl will wait for your response,_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Madame Professor Griselda Marchbanks_

 _(Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority and Wizengamot Member)_

I contemplated the offer for a bit before realizing how perfect this would be. I could spend the next few years working on the muggle studies curriculum and understanding how Wizarding education was done, all the while making connections with important people in the wizarding world. And I could state my desire to become a teacher at Hogwarts from 1991 for muggle studies to make sure the curriculum is being used effectively, giving me a set-in stone reason to become the professor. I quickly wrote down an affirmative response and tied it to the owl, who took one more sip of water before making her way out of the house.

The next day after dropping Harry off at St. Grogory's Primary School, I took my car to Whitehall in London before looking for the famous red telephone booth that was layered with muggle notice-me-not charms. I stepped into the booth, typing in 62442 (magic on the number pad) before stating that I had a meeting with Mrs. Marchbanks. Slowly the booth descended into the Ministry of Magic. Going up to the reception area I asked for directions to the office of Mrs. Marchbbanks, and followed them to make it to her personal office. I was allowed into the office and saw a woman behind a desk who looked older than Dumbledore, with grey hair, wrinkles and a bit of bent back. She had a wise look on her face, one that showed that the person had experienced a lot.

"Hello Mr. Stark. Thank you for coming by today. Please take a seat." She greeted me.

"Hello, thank you for the offer Mrs. Marchbanks." I said as I sat down.

"Well, as I said in the letter I sent you, you are the first person in several decades to have completed a mastery in muggle studies. Is it true that you have a muggle teaching degree?"

"Yes ma'am, I completed my degree before doing my muggle studies OWLs and NEWTs."

"Great, so I would like for you to work on updating the muggle studies curriculum with my group here. How does that sound?" She asked

"This sounds like a great opportunity and I would love to accept the offer, however I have studied to be a teacher, and for a while that is what I have wanted to do. So, would it be possible for me to become the teacher of muggle studies in a few years? It would be a great way for me to ensure the effectiveness of the new curriculum."

She readily agreed to my suggestion and we put down that I would become the new muggle studies teacher in 1991. She told me that she would make sure that Dumbledore accepted a new teacher and curriculum from me. I left the office quite happy with the job, and ecstatic that I had confirmed a spot for myself as Harry's teacher when he returns to Hogwarts.

With my new job now, I started to integrate myself into the wizarding world. I realized I needed to be able to utilize more advanced magic in the upcoming war. I picked out books on occlumency and the Animagus transformation. I needed occlumency to keep my secrets from the likes of Dumbledore and Snape when I got to Hogwarts, and the Animagus transformation could always be useful in a quick getaway and it would be useful as a method to spy on people. For occlumency, I spent a lot of time doing muggle methods of relaxation, such as yoga, to get into a state where I could completely clear my mind of any thoughts. Once I could reach the phase of not having any thoughts in my mind, I was now able to move onto advanced aspects of occlumency, which was to create a mindscape that kept my memories a secret. My mindscape was my house, I placed memories in different rooms based on how I wanted to them to be sorted. All of my secrets, and non-magical life was placed in Harry's room and was guarded by crazy sci-fi weapons that I had seen from movies in the future.

The Animagus transformation was much harder than I expected, and not at all like most of the fanfictions that I read which made it look easy. The strangest part of the process was placing a mandrake leaf in my mouth and keeping it there for a month before using it in a potion. I did succeed though, and a few months after first starting the process I was able to transform into a peregrine falcon, which was awesome because I could fly. The first time I transformed in front of Harry, he fell off the chair he was sitting on in shock, before then asking several times if he could be taught magic because it was "super cool". When I asked him what animal he would like to transform into, he told me that of course he would be a bird like me. I did some research on what traits a peregrine falcon has that would be like me, and apparently the falcons help other species of birds by protecting their nests from predators like foxes. Which is similar to what I am doing by helping Harry have a better life than he did in the books.

Soon I had to start to prepare to explain to Harry how important he is in the wizarding world, and the fact that he was adopted. I had previously told him that I would explain it all on his eight birthday, which was now fast approaching.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 6:**

Finally, the day has come, it was Harry's eight birthday. The day I had decided to tell him everything I could about his past. I wouldn't give him the information of myself being some sort of dimension traveller into the Harry Potter world, and neither would I give him the future information that I had either, but I would be completely honest with him.

After a day of fun with his friends in the yard playing football, jumping around and just goofing off, it was just Harry and I left in the house. I think he realized through the solemn expression on my face the seriousness of the conversation that was about to happen. We sat down by the dining table and I contemplated how to firstly tell someone they are adopted.

"Harry, I think you are old enough to know about certain things about your life and who you really are. I have no easy way to say this so just bear with me. Do you remember the picture frame that is put up in your room of a couple who had just gotten married?" I started with.

"Yes dad, I do. I remember you once told me that they were friends of yours from school, which did confuse me because it was put in my room."

"Well, I did know them, but they were not really my friends as such. The names of the two people in the photo are Lily Potter and James Potter." He looked up at me as if he was trying to solve a puzzle. "Harry, I am not your real father, I took you in when you were 15 months old. These people are your real parents." I said pointing to the picture in his hands.

He shoulders sagged a little but he continued looking at me, "Dad, I kind of figured that you had adopted me when I started talking to my friends about my full name and when I had another name after Stark it made sense that you weren't my bio-" he stops to think for a second, "logical, biological dad I believe it is called. I thought that you would tell me when you were ready. Don't worry I still love you."

I got reached for his small body and crushed him into a hug, "Even though I'm not your real dad?" I asked meekly.

"Of course!" I sighed and felt about ten times lighter that he was okay with being adopted and was still okay with me being his dad.

"Okay Harry, now this is going to take a while so just listen for now and ask questions once I have finished the story of your real parents and about how we use magic, remember I told you briefly about that two years ago?" He nodded so I continued, "Now there are different types of people in the world. You and I are called wizards, and the girls are called witches. Magic most often is in you if your parents are magical, but there are also some kids who don't have magical parents but still have magic. I'll go into what the different types of wizards there are later. Next, we have squibs, who have magical parents but have too little or no magic themselves, and then you have regular people, or as wizards call them, muggles. But I don't like that name too much, but that is what wizards call normal people."

I took a breath and continued, "At the age of eleven, we are all sent to a boarding school called Hogwarts, where you are taught about magic. I was three years younger than your parents, and whilst your mom was a less well known at first, your dad was always in the spotlight. They were considered the best students in their year by the time they were in their last year, as they were selected to be head-boy and head-girl. I'll explain more about their lives in Hogwarts soon as I'm sure you would love to hear what little I know about them. During the period of time that they were in Hogwarts a dark wizard, named Voldemort, became more powerful. He would preach that those who were wizards and witches but didn't have magical parents should be killed. One day he got news of a prophecy that stated that there were two boys who were recently born in July that could kill. Unfortunately, you were one of the boys that it applied to. He came to your house and killed your parents before attempting to kill you, but that failed and he ended up killing himself supposedly." I took a breath and looked at Harry and could see how confused he was.

I explained to him about how some magic that his mother used allowed him to survive a killing curse, but left him with a small scar on his forehead that looked like a lightning bolt. I explained how famous he was in the wizarding world. Finally, it got to the point where I had to explain how I came to adopt him.

"So, this day comes where the worst dark wizard was finally ended by you, and during that day I get a big inheritance from one of my best friends who died in the war. I decide to find a place where I could still be connected to the muggle world and allowed me to become a teacher. Yet, the first night I am there the lights all around the road disappear before turning back on. Looking through our window I saw three wizards leave a baby on the doorstep of the Dursleys, you know who they are right?" He nodded in response. "So, I picked up the baby rather than leave him out on a cold November night and took him. The letter that was placed with you stated that you were supposed to go and live with Petunia due to special protection that came from your mother. Luckily, the protection goes around a few areas in the area, including the house we live in. Knowing what I knew about your mother from Hogwarts I knew that her sister considered her a freak and absolutely hated her. I couldn't leave you with her knowing that, so I took you in instead. You saw how Dudley automatically called you a freak, that was because Petunia was at first convinced that you were a wizard until I showed up in a car. I don't think she had seen a wizard in a car before."

"That's alright dad, I know how bad it would have been with the Dursleys. If I had to grow up with Dudley, I know it would not have been fun. He really is a big bully. So what kind of stuff do wizards do?" He asked excitedly.

I gave him a quick overview of the courses that were taught at Hogwarts, he seemed most excited about transfiguration. Finally, I came to the most serious part of the conversation. "Harry, I know magic sounds like the most exciting thing right now, but there are some terrible things that magic can do. This dark wizard, Voldemort, killed and tortured many people, and thankfully your mum did something that sent him away. But I have come across enough proof to know that he will be coming back soon, and sad to say that he will be coming after you for sure. So, by the time you get to Hogwarts we need to have be somewhat stronger magically." Surprisingly he acted rather mature about it, and seemed determined to be ready for whatever would come at him. "So, the first magical thing we will be learning is called occlumency, which helps you concentrate and do better magic, keep control of your emotions and protect your mind from people who want to learn what's inside."

He looked shocked, "You mean that people can read what is my head?"

"Yes, but we are not going to let that happen, right buddy?" He nodded in affirmative.

"Dad, when I go to Hogwarts once I'm eleven, will I still be able to see you?"

I quickly allayed his fears, "Well I have been given the job of one of the classes, Muggle studies, from your first year onwards. My job right now is to help make sure what is taught in the class is good, then I will be working at Hogwarts as a teacher once you start going there. Is that alright Harry?" He nodded looking very relieved. "Anyway Harry, that is enough about magic for one night, I do believe it is time for bed?" He agreed, gave me tight hug, before taking the picture of his parents and climbing up the stairs towards his bedroom.

\- Time Skip -

Once again, the months passed by with same sort of routine, except that every night we would spend an hour talking about some aspect of magic, or working on Harry's occlumency. I had continued my work for Mrs. Marchbanks, and the curriculum had taken a drastic more modern muggle outlook that it had before. The students were much happier with what was taught, their grades were better and they were actually starting to learn to respect the muggles. Having finished my work on the Muggle Studies syllabus Mrs. Marchbanks had once again called me into her office.

"Hello Mr. Stark, how have you been doing? Would you like some tea?" She started.

"Good morning Mrs. Marchbanks. I have been doing great this last few weeks with the finish of our new and improved curriculum. I really think it will be a success. I would love some tea, with milk and one sugar please." She waved her wand soon enough I was delivered floating tea which I happily accepted.

"Well I must say that the new curriculum has indeed been a hit so far Mr. Stark. In fact, I have received a letter from the board of directors at Hogwarts applauding our efforts to make a change. Obviously, some members didn't care one way or the other, however, the general consensus is rather positive. A testament to your ability." I started to blush, but she continued onwards, "In fact, it appears that Minister Fudge has had his approval rating with the muggleborn and lighter faction increase drastically, which led even him to send a letter congratulating us. He has also asked that we continue to update the curriculums of some of the other classes, and in particular Defence against the Dark Arts. He believes that by continuing to update Hogwarts, he would have some more control over what is taught there rather than Headmaster Dumbledore. Luckily, I have convinced him that by letting us do our job without him interfering, it would show the public that he had hired the right people and that he could be trusted in power. So, tomorrow afternoon a new law will be unveiled that would basically make us an autonomous arm of the ministry. We will have full control of the WEA and he, and any other ministers or ministry personnel cannot tell us what we should do. So Mr. Stark, and I don't do this lightly, thank you for helping the WEA achieve our independence." She ended with a slight smirk on her face.

"Wow, umm you're welcome, I guess." I said stumbling over the words. I realized that while this wouldn't stop teachers like Umbridge being hired, she would have to teach what the WEA wanted and not what the minister wanted. It was perfect.

"Due to your success, I have decided that you will be leading the group that will be working on the new DADA curriculum. I would recommend spending time with some of the better aurors to get a handle on what is required from seventh year students who want to get into the auror academy." She finished with a smile.

I realized how much this would help the students in the return of Voldemort, so I quickly accepted the proposal and was told to start as soon as possible. All in all, things were going pretty well for Harry and I.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 7:**

During the next few weeks I settled into working on the newer curriculum for DADA. I was hoping to create something that would prevent a bad DADA professor from ruining the subject. It took some time, but Harry was soon back to being the smart and confident kid he had always been, only now we spent a couple of days every week working on magic or talking about either his parents or magic. For occlumency we spent time doing yoga and doing basic meditation, mundane aspects that really helped me master that type of magic. And I could tell that without the hocrux in his head, he was much better at it than in the books. It only took three months before he was able to start properly pushing me out with force, I knew then that this Harry was going to be so much better than the Harry from the books.

The most awkward conversation that came up about magic with Harry was about Sirius Black. We had been discussing the way we were protected from people who wanted to harm us due to the blood wards, and soon enough he asked about the wards around his parent's house.

I answered, "Your parent's house in Godric's Hollow was under a fidelius charm, which keeps anything, in this case a house, hidden unless the secret keeper told them about it."

He looked confused, "Well how did Voldemort find us then?"

I grimaced, "The secret keeper told Voldemort about the house, and thus Voldemort was able to find you. Yes, I know you are going to ask who the secret keeper was, well the public believe it was Sirius Black who was your father's best friend and basically brother during their time at Hogwarts. However, from what I knew of them. I do find it a bit difficult to believe that he was the one who betrayed them. More likely would be the person who Sirius supposedly killed, Peter Pettigrew. Peter was in a group of your dads' that had one other person in it."

He once again had an expression of confusion on his face, "Wait a second! You're saying that the public believe that Sirius Black was to blame for telling the secret to Voldemort, but he really isn't to blame? Didn't they have a trial or something, or is he dead too?"

I sighed softly, "The thing is he didn't get a trial. I don't know exactly why, but I believe he was not the one who was the secret keeper. So, Sirius is in wizarding jail called Azkaban and Peter is supposedly dead."

"But why couldn't you say anything about it and get him a trial, surely you could do that no?"

I shook my head, "No Harry. I really wish I could, but you must understand that I am just a muggleborn. The current Ministry and the Wizarding England in general seem to believe that muggles, like your school friends, and therefore muggleborns are less than wizards. Obviously, that is all just some nonsense, in fact your mother was the smartest witch during her time at Hogwarts and she was muggleborn."

He nodded slightly, "Okay, that isn't right but it makes sense I guess. I guess we will have to change it, won't we dad?" He looked up at me hopefully.

"Of course, we will do our best when we enter Hogwarts." I agreed with him.

"Dad, didn't you say that my father had a group of friends then? Where are they? And what about my mother?"

I answered with whatever information I had, "Your dad had three very close friends. Sirius Black, who is in prison. Peter Pettigrew, who is supposed to be dead or has disappeared. And he also had a close friend called Remus Lupin. Now, he is an odd one because I had assumed he would have tried coming to see you in this area at least once, and I would not have stopped anyone coming to check on your wellbeing. But, it was kind of clear from the signs, and most of my old friends knew from school that he was a werewolf. That means every month when there is a full moon, he turns into a wolf and can spread the disease by biting others. Maybe that is why he didn't come see you, I don't know to be honest and I'm sorry, but I won't contact him first as he should be more worried about his best friend's son." I paused to teak a breath and Harry looked slightly sad at that bit of news. "Your mother I do not know too much about, but I know that before her fifth year she was friends with a Slytherin boy named Severus Snape. Rumour has it that he lived near her before Hogwarts and stayed friends until in their fifth year he called her a name that is much worse than muggleborn, and from then on, they were never friends again. He is currently the potions professor at Hogwarts and used to be a follower of Voldemort but Dumbledore, your headmaster and the person who left you with Petunia, told the government that Snape had been a spy for him. Umm, the only other friend that I recall of Lily's was Alice Longbottom. I cannot remember what her maiden name was but she married Frank Longbottom after graduation. Herself and Frank got into a fight with Death Eaters and were tortured until insanity. They have been in hospital since and cannot recall who they are and what is happening around them."

Harry looked terrified at the fate of Alice and Frank, so I quickly gave him a hug and said, "Their son, Neville, will be in the same year as yourself so maybe you can be friends with him?" He nodded against my chest. It was difficult to explain to Harry about the horrors of the war, but I knew I needed him to understand how big of a deal Voldemort really was and how scared people were of him, because sometimes Harry was insensitive about other kid's feelings in the books.

\- Time Skip -

At work, I was to be introduced to a few aurors to help mould the upper year syllabus and was called into Madame Bones's office before I could meet any of the aurors.

I quickly made my way through the ministry atrium and towards the DMLE head office. After being told to wait by the secretary for a few minutes, I was soon allowed access. I gave a quick and small bow towards Madame Bones before I was told to take a seat in front of her desk.

"Greetings, Mr. Stark. How are you doing today? Would you like some tea?" She asked. She looked to be in her forties with brown hair just starting to fade. She was rather skinny no doubt from her time as an auror, but all in all she seemed like a strict yet welcoming presence not unlike McGonagall from when I was a magical kid.

"Greeting to you to Madame Bones. Please call me Jack ma'am. My day is going well, how about you? And yes, to tea, milk with one sugar please." I responded

"Well then Jack, my day is going well, and please call me Amelia. I believe you are here to discuss possible changes to the curriculum of Defence against the Dark Arts?" She asked whilst serving the tea.

"Yes Amelia, I have finished my work with the muggle studies syllabus and am now going to work on the DADA one. I will finish it off before I leave to be a muggle studies teacher for the 1991-1992 year."

"I see, that gives us around a year and a half to finish this project. And I'm glad to hear you will be joining Hogwarts soon, after all you have done some exemplary work for Mrs. Marchbanks. In fact, I believe that is the year my niece will start, Susan. I became her guardian after her parents died during the war, you know how it goes Jack." She looked at me sadly.

"Yes, I do Amelia, in fact I lost almost all my Ravenclaw friends during that time. It was quite horrible, which is why we need a strict curriculum for DADA. These students must know how to defend themselves decently well by their fifth year and really all the NEWTs students should up to or almost at Auror level once they have completed their exams, would you not agree?"

"Yes of course, I do understand. But, with the current so-called curse on the position is that even possible?" She asked

"That is the whole point of the system! It doesn't matter who is teaching they will be forced to follow protocol set by us. It wouldn't matter if Minister Fudge was teaching or even Hagrid, they would have to teach the same thing every year." I exclaimed happily.

She nodded slightly, "That sounds like a great plan, and whilst my aurors are generally rather busy and normally I would let them help you with your task, I have a sort of vested interest with Susan joining Hogwarts so soon. I would rather you work directly with me on this just to make sure it comes out alright. Is that acceptable to you? Perhaps we can meet once a week and we can go through everything for a few hours let's say every Thursday morning?"

This was the chance to make an ally that would really help Harry in the future. Throughout fanfictions, and even in canon Amelia Bones is seen as someone who is fair and equal in her role and would really have been the perfect minister if she had gotten longer than a few days to be in charge. "That sounds perfect Amelia, perhaps we shall start next week then?" She quickly agreed and soon I was on my way out of the office with a chance of having the ear of someone extremely important in the wizarding world.

Coming home that day in high spirits, I was slightly surprised to see Harry starting to read 'Hogwarts: A History' as I had just started leaving out my magical books in our library for him to go through. He looked up when I walked into the living room and once again he seemed kind of confused. I walked towards him, sat down, gave him a quick hug before asking "What seems to have your head in such a bind Harry?"

"Umm well, I was wondering if you could explain the house system to me? I don't really understand how we are sorted and all."

Another interesting discussion about the house structure, oh well. "Well Harry, you know there are four houses that you can be part of, right? Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Now, you are sorted based on your personality traits. So Gryffindors are known to be brave and courageous, Hufflepuffs are known to be loyal to each other and hardworking. Ravenclaws are supposed to be intelligent and great at their studies. And finally, Slytherins are known for their ambition and cunning. Now, we aren't really supposed to tell you the way you get sorted but you know I could never say no to those puppy dog eyes you've got going there. But, you must promise not to tell anyone on the train when it comes time to go to Hogwarts alright?" I asked whilst I raised my eyebrows.

"Of course, dad, I promise!" He pleaded with me excitedly.

"Okay, so the way you get sorted is through a talking hat that you put on your head and it then sorts you!" I said with complete seriousness.

"Aww come on dad you can tell me…" he started to say until he realized I was completely serious "… really a talking hat! Wow, that sounds awesome!" He jumped up and down on our sofa. Then, he turned back towards me and asked, "What house did you get into? And what about my other parents?... And what about Voldemort?"

I sighed, "Your biological parents were in Gryffindor and I was in Ravenclaw, umm Voldemort was in Slytherin. And before you ask no, I do not care what house you are in as long you are happy wherever it is, and don't listen to the bad things people say about the houses, none of them are perfect. As for Voldemort, I have been studying him but let's talk about him another day okay?"

He nodded albeit reluctantly, "Okay dad, but don't forget! Anyway, did you hear about the new kid in our class? His name is Ashley Cole or something like that, and he is amazing at football! I thought I was good, but you should totally see this guy, I swear he could go professional!" I continued to listen to his day, surprised that the Ashely Cole who would later go onto play football for Arsenal and Chelsea, in my previous life at least, was at the same school as Harry. Once again, things were going well for my little family.

 _Hey guys! I hope this story has been going great so far. Someone reviewed saying that Jack Stark needed some friends and hopefully with Amelia Bones that will happen. However, I wanted to know if you guys feel that Jack needs a girlfriend/wife in the next few years. Amelia is too old, but what about Nymphadora Tonks? As there will be some Remus Lupin bashing in the story, would it be go too far if Jack get Tonks instead of Remus? Is she too young? There is a 8 or 9 year difference. Let me know!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 8:**

With just under a year left before our move to Hogwarts, Harry and I were spending more and more time talking about different aspects of magic. Once his occlumency was at a pretty good level, we began discussing the basics of wandless magic and what is or is not possible. I explained that I was not strong enough to be able to do any wandless spell, but he could definitely learn during the year before Hogwarts. So, we started with the most basic of charms, _Wingardium Leviosa_ , and moved on from there. It was quite difficult for him to start with some of the spells but I think the occlumency helped him out quite a bit, and it only took a couple of weeks for him to master a wandless spell.

For the last few months I had also been working quite hard on the DADA syllabus. In fact, every week Amelia and I met up to discuss progress and other aspects of our lives. After two months of doing so I felt it was safe for her to know about Harry, and it would be great for him to get to know another magical kid like Susan. So that Thursday, I knew I had to start off a pretty awkward conversation. After the basic niceties of tea, I started the chat.

"Umm, Amelia, I've gotten to know you pretty well over the last few months and I think it is time to come clean about my secret." I said anxiously.

She looked surprised, "Well Jack, I didn't really think you were hiding anything from me. I hope it is not anything against the law, because I would have to report you and…"

I quickly shook my head and said, "No, not at all. Nothing against the law as such. I just need for you not to freak out about what I'm going to tell you and let me explain before berating me, alright?"

She looked at me for a few seconds before nodding, "Very well Jack, I promise not to over react, now what is it?"

With a soft sigh I began my tale, "On the day that Voldemort was defeated, I was given a bunch of money from the will of a friend who had died in the war. Using that money, I left the wizarding world to go spend time as a muggle, like I was before Hogwarts. I bought a house in Surrey and was just moving into it that night, when I saw a bit of magic which was surprising in such a muggle neighbourhood. So, I stayed hidden and watched the wizards leave a bundle on the footsteps of a muggle house before leaving as fast as they had come. I then went and checked it out, and what I found was the baby named Harry Potter, who was just waiting laying there on the doorsteps of a muggle house with just a letter. I picked up the letter and took a look at it, and it asked the sister of Lily Potter to take care of Harry even though Petunia hated magic. I knew a bit about both James and Lily from Hogwarts and I knew that from basically the first year that Lily was at the school, her sister absolutely hated her and would call her a freak. So, I checked the wards and it showed that the blood wards extended to the nearby houses including mine. I checked to see what magic there was on Harry and there was a warming charm and a tracking charm. I moved the tracking charm to Petunia's child and then did the sensible thing and took Harry to my home. We have been living together ever since, he is in all but blood my son." I finished my story and then looked up at Amelia to see her reaction.

She looked perplexed for a bit before asking, "How sure are you that Petunia is a magic hater?"

"Extremely, in fact since the kids go to the same school the interaction between Petunia and her son, always started with her calling him a freak, until I stepped in. And just imagine Harry Potter joining Hogwarts at eleven without knowing a thing about it? How difficult would that be on the child?"

She took a few seconds before agreeing, "Yes, that would have been quite difficult I'm sure. What do you intend to do once you get to Hogwarts? Won't Dumbledore then know what you have done?"

I shook my head, "No not really, I mean Harry will just claim that his muggle relatives became like parents to him so that when he talks about his dad it won't cause any problems. Also, he has occlumency shields already and so no one, especially Dumbledore, would be able to cause any to figure out who his dad really is. As you can tell I don't really trust Dumbledore."

She agreed with my last remark, "Me neither to be honest. We can discuss our issues with Dumbledore at a different date. Not that I don't trust you Jack, but would it be fair that I can come see Harry? Of course, I will keep this a secret as long as he is happy with you."

"For sure, he would just be finishing school in the next half an hour. Would you like to come by today? We would have to side-along apparate as I have we have not installed the floo at our house yet. We are quite muggle."

She smiled and nodded, "I don't have much planned for today, so we can definitely go today, let me just pack up and let my secretary know before leaving."

"Would Susan be free to meet Harry? He doesn't have a magical friend yet and it would be good for him I think. And it would give him a bit of a pen-pal before Hogwarts. The owl ward on Harry is still active but as long as they are sent to me, Harry and Susan can definitely write to each other."

Amelia seemed quite happy at the prospect, "That would be wonderful, we would have to go to Bones Manor first then to pick her up."

After Amelia finished packing up and telling her secretary that she would be gone for the day, we flooed over to Bones manor which was an amazing place. It was huge too, and Amelia explained that they only used a small part of it since it was only Susan and herself who lived there. I was soon introduced to Susan as a work friend of Amelia's and we told her that we were going to see a new friend but that she would have to keep it a secret from anyone else. She reluctantly agreed before we all took each other's hands and apparated to Privet drive. I opened up the door and saw that Harry's school bag was already on the table so he was already at home probably doing some reading. I asked Amelia and Susan to wait downstairs for a bit whilst I got Harry and then walked upstairs into his room.

"Hey Harry, I'm home early today with some guests, why don't you come down and meet them?"

Once he saw me he came over and hugged me, "Hey dad, yeah let's meet them. Are they magical?"

I laughed and said, "Yes they are, in fact there is someone who will be going to Hogwarts with you next year here as well. And please don't ask too many questions alright buddy?"

We spent the next few hours with Amelia and Susan talking and getting to know each other. Susan and Harry seemed to really hit it off and they appeared to become good friends quite quickly. She, luckily, didn't seem to some sort of fangirl luckily and was quite able to have a good conversation with him. The get together seemed to be a success and Amelia appeared quite happy with the way Harry's life was going and didn't seem to have an issue with me staying as Harry's guardian. Having Amelia Bones on our side in terms of the law would always be a great thing to have, especially knowing the issues that will come up in the next few years at Hogwarts.

Over the next few months there were quite a few letters going back and forth between Susan and Harry and it seemed like they were becoming quite quick friends. I never really asked what they were talking about as I felt it was only fair that Harry could have his own privacy with his friends like he did at mundane school.

I, on the other hand, was working on creating a sort of plan on how to deal with the issue of Voldemort now that there was only a year left for us before we moved to Hogwarts. I had already plotted with the goblins for a slow takeover of the Daily Prophet under many different names, and a month before time to return to Hogwarts over fifty percent of the newspaper would be under my control. The idea was to get the authors in the newspaper to sign a binding contract preventing them from lying completely and stopping the use of a quick quotes quill. Eventually, I would give more directions but those would be the main ones to send to the editors in a years' time.

Also, I had spent time learning the Patronus charm, a charm that will be extremely useful from third year onwards. It took a decent amount of time as continuously keeping a happy memory, I used one of Harry and myself when he was five and I taught him how to play football, but occlumency definitely helped keep my focus on the happy memory. Unsurprisingly, my corporeal patronus was the same as my Animagus form, a peregrine falcon. Eventually Harry would have to learn the skill as well, but it was still a whilst away.

 _Thanks for the great support everyone! In the next chapter Harry will get his letter from Hogwarts and everything until the sorting happens. So, my big question for you lot to mull over for the next week or so is; which house should Harry be in? From the feel of Harry's character that I have is a sort of Lily/Hermione vibe but without any real worshiping of Dumbledore or the Magical world in general. So, he is quite smart, a bit of a bookworm, will be better at making friends than Hermione. I would say not Slytherin, one because someone pointed out that he might have issues with death eater children whose parents are in prison or will be in prison, and secondly, I really don't want to write a pureblooded Harry like some other fanfics. What I mean by that is the Lord Potter sort of stories, and I feel that as he is quite happy and had a great time in the muggle world he wouldn't be willing to live in a pureblooded house. Also, there is no slytherin hocrux inside his head which might change the original sorting hat's assessment from the books. Thanks once again!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 9:**

The day had finally arrived; it was June 16th, around a month and a half before the Hogwarts letter had come for Harry as a student, and myself as an upcoming teacher. Since there was no longer any input from the teacher on the books required for muggle studies, I was sent a letter at the same time as Harry. Harry was only slightly excited as he knew he would be going to Hogwarts this year, but he was sad that he wouldn't be able to stay with his friends, especially with his new best friend Ashley. The story we had given to the school and to his friends was that I had finished my degree in teaching history and had been given a job at a prestigious school in Scotland for the gifted, and I was allowed to bring Harry with me as he had good enough grades for the school. The school was invite only and there was little to no information that could be found about it. We did let them know it was called Hogwarts but they only thought it was a school for gifted children.

The very same day Harry sent an acceptance letter, hoping there would be no reason for any of the Hogwarts teachers to escort him around Diagon Alley. We had decided that we wouldn't let anyone know that we were close at Hogwarts until we both agreed that they would be trusted enough. For now, only Susan and Amelia knew that I raised Harry. The story that would have to be told about his family would be that whilst his Aunt was his mother's sister she didn't really like magic much and neither did his cousin, but his uncle and he were very close. In fact, he called his uncle dad, which would allow for him to talk about his childhood and his dad to his friends without any issues. Both of our occlumency shields were strong enough that we felt we could keep the charade up until Voldemort was dealt with. In order to keep in contact whilst at school without anyone finding out, I found a muggle born who had enchanted two muggle notepads as a way to right to one another anywhere in the world. He had left the magical world after none of the purebloods allowed him to open up an enchanting shop in Diagon Alley, but he had finished off some of his projects including the books before doing so.

However, we did have a story for how he was comfortable around me and how he knew a bit about magic before coming to Hogwarts when he lived in the muggle world. As I had gotten my degree for teaching history in Surrey, I lived pretty close to him. I knew his uncle and I had come by once in a while to explain a bit about the wizarding world. So, I took him to Diagon Alley and brought him to the station for that reason. No one would be able to tell differently, and it would give us an excuse if Harry came to me for help with anything, which is what I expected would happen this year and for the next several years. Also, it would explain how he knew Susan, as that was the only magical kid I knew from my time with Amelia. Both Susan and Amelia had agreed to the story that we had made up to keep people from becoming too inquisitive.

Over the last year, I was having chats with Amelia about the possibility of Voldemort still being alive. I explained to her about what I had found out from the Goblins about what was in Harry's scar when I first found him. She was quite shocked that there was such a thing as a Horcrux, but agreed that it should be kept quiet. I also told her what little I knew about Voldemort's life as a kid and who he really was. I explained that I was going through his past to see if I could find any clues for where he may have hidden his horcruxes. She was happy enough that I had taken up this quest and would be looking to figure this stuff out at Hogwarts as long as I let her know how the search was going. I hated lying to her but there was absolutely no way to explain that I had literally jumped into the story that was Harry Potter after reading about it. So, I gave her bits and pieces of information as time passed by, as if I was learning about it in the present.

Another issue I had to deal with was taking Harry into Diagon Alley, and I wanted him to have the experience of seeing for the first time like many other magical students. So, I slightly transfigured myself and Harry, giving us both brown hair and blue eyes. We could easily pass as father and son and Harry didn't look at all like the pictures in the fictional books about him especially because there was no longer a scar on his head due to the Horcrux.

Once we got there through side-along apparition by Charing Cross Road and through the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was absolutely stunned. He had never seen so much magic before. And while most of the vocabulary about potions, brooms and plants were more known to him compared to Rowling's Harry, he was still quite shocked. After around five minutes of just staring he picked out a destination and I chuckled before I followed him into Flourish and Blotts. He took around ten extra books that had nothing to do with the syllabus, and realizing we hadn't yet bought a trunk we asked for the shopkeeper to hold onto the books for a little while. We then did go ahead and pick up a trunk that was just one size bigger than the regular Hogwarts trunks just for the extra books. Once we picked up the books we went to Gringotts which was the first time Harry was visiting since the removal of the horcrux in his head. Reaching the teller, I asked to see Swipeclaw. Whilst on the way to his office I undid the transfiguration on myself and Harry before stepping through the door. As usual he was sitting on his chair as if nothing had changed in the last ten years.

Once Harry and I were both seated and Swipeclaw was looking at us I began, "Hello Swipeclaw, you look like you haven't aged a bit since I last saw you." I tried using a bit of humour.

"Greetings Jack, it has indeed been quite a while since we last met, but your choices of investment have been pretty good and have so far brought in a lot of money for yourself and myself. And while goblins do not age as fast as humans do, I thank you for the compliment." I grinned at that, it was just like Swipeclaw from all those years ago, much happier to talk to humans than the other goblins it appeared.

"Well then, it appears that it is now time for young Harry here to join the wizarding world. He will be off to Hogwarts come the end of summer. However, we have never received a key for his trust vault. I assume that Gringotts doesn't have it either, is there a way to get him a new one and make the other one unusable?" I asked.

"Yes, that can be done, but Mr. Potter will need to give up a slight bit of his blood as proof that he is who he says he is." He said before shouting to his right in the Goblin tongue.

Harry then spoke out for the first time, "Please Mr. Swipeclaw, do call me Harry. And yes, I am willing to give some blood. Are there any other vaults from my parents or is there only a trust vault?"

Swipeclaw responded, "Well then Harry please call me Swipeclaw, and yes there is one other vault that your parents had, but most of the money was used to help in the war against the Dark Lord during the war, and thus they do not have much in their vaults. Since then no one has touched the money in the vaults and it has not gained anything in a long while."

Harry replied after thinking for a second, "So that means that no Goblin has been investing using my parent's money since the war. How come?"

As a contraption was rolled in by a new Goblin in the room, Swipeclaw responded, "At the time of the war, the instruction from James Potter was to keep all the money in the bank, I assume in case your parents needed it quickly which can't happen if it is invested. And since they died without providing any new information on what to do with the money except to have a trust vault for you, the Potter account manager could not use the money available. And since we make commission off of money from investments, he no longer stayed as your account manager. I can bring him in here if you want, his name was Gorhook I believe."

Harry quickly shook his head, "No thanks Swipeclaw, you seem to have done a lot of good with my dad's money, so I would be more than happy if you could take over as my account manager. And, please invest the money there like you do with dad's money, is that alright?"

Swipeclaw looked quite happy, "Of course if that is what you want, I will take charge of your account, let me just pull up the documents for you to sign while you get a new key with Bogrod over here." He finished before shuffling through the paper on his desk. Bogrod was the goblin who had come in with the contraption and was now near Harry and Myself.

"Greeting human, my name is Bogrod. Please prick yourself on this metal point for five seconds." Harry quickly complied and after a minute or so the device showed Harry's name proving his identity before pumping out a decently big sized key that he then gave Harry. Without another word Bogrod rolled his device back out of the room.

Swipeclaw quickly restarted the conversation, "Don't worry about Bogrod, not all Goblins are as accepting of humans as myself. Anyway, now that you have the key, here are the forms and a quill with ink for you to sign Harry." Harry looked at me quickly and after I gave him a quick nod, he signed the document. "Alright Harry, from now on I am your account manager, I am confident your gold will grow just like your dads has done. Jack, your takeover of the Daily Prophet has been complete and you have over fifty percent all under aliases of several muggle-hating purebloods, which was the only way to get Malfoy and Fudge to sell their stocks. I've started discussing with the chief editor there as a representative of the majority owners and my instructions so far have been to write only the truth and to ban the use of quick-quotes quills at the Daily Prophet. I hope that is fine for now, as and when Harry comes into the news I will make sure that it mostly stays positive, is that fine?"

I was surprised, I didn't expect Swipeclaw to go as far as he did with my taking over of the Daily Prophet. I didn't think he would go further than just investing for me so I responded, "Wow, that is amazing news. I had no idea you would do. Please increase your commission from eight percent to twelve percent. You deserve it!"

Swipeclaw just grinned at me, "Thank you very much Jack. Now if that is all for today I will get Bogrod to take Harry down to his trust vault before you leave. And I would recommend transfiguring yourself again before leaving this room." Both Harry and I said our goodbyes before following Bogrod to his vault and then back out onto Diagon Alley.

After looking around the alley and picking up a snowy owl which Harry and I both agreed should be called Hedwig, we made our way to Ollivander's. Surprisingly, he did not recognize us, which meant that he generally used legilimency to know who his customers were like he did with Harry in the books. However, it still took forever for Harry to get a wand and it was the same; eleven inches, holly with a phoenix feather core. Again, surprisingly Ollivander didn't mention that Voldemort had the brother wand of Harry's like in the books.

-Time Skip-

A few weeks later and it was September first, the first day of Hogwarts. Harry and I were relatively on time as we had a good routine going from when Harry went to regular school. He had packed the night before and you could see the excitement coming from him as the time for the train to leave drew closer. We apparated just outside the station at 10:30, and made our way through all the human traffic before I held Harry's hand and walked through the wall of platform 9¾. Wanting to be early I let Harry go fifteen minutes before the train was supposed to leave. We weren't going to be too far apart and the notebooks would help, but we were both quite emotional with our last hugs before he ran onto the train to find Susan. I needed to get to Hogwarts by noon as McGonagall had asked the new teachers to come in early and settle into the castle before the kids arrived.

As I walked back through the wall, I saw the Weasley's just coming through, and soon enough I heard Mrs. Weasley ask, "Now, what's the platform number?" before Ginny responded, "Nine and three-quarters!" Quite a few people around her were looking at her strangely as she was still decently far away from the notice-me-not charm around the wall that took you to the Hogwarts express. I quickly pulled out my wand and placed a notice-me-not charm around the family before walking up to her. She seemed slightly distracted as if she was looking around for Harry, in fact, she even mixed up her twins as they walked through the wall, something which I find hard for a mother to do. I said, "Excuse me, could you please not discuss the name of the platform out loud around the muggles. A lot of them were looking at you strangely when you agreed with your daughter about there being a platform nine and three quarters. I had to put a notice-me-not charm around you to stop the looks. If enough people mention the platform name then the muggles will start to ask questions."

She looked quite mollified at that, "Yes of course, sorry Mister?"

"Mister Stark, or as your kids will soon know me as Professor Stark. I am the new muggle studies professor."

She quickly nodded, "Right, sorry Mister Stark, it won't happen again." She did look disappointed in herself and it seemed like she knew how much trouble she could be in for what she had just done.

I let her go saying, "Alright, you better get this one on the train then, you wouldn't want him to miss it, would you?" I said whilst pointing to Ronald.

She quickly sent him through the barrier after once again apologizing and thanking me. It seemed like Dumbledore did in fact ask Mrs. Weasley to be around watching for Harry, probably to get him form a friendship with one of the members from the order of the phoenix which would help keep track of him. Already his plans were beginning to unravel and Harry was going to have a much better time at Hogwarts than he did in the books.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 _So, now that we are in Hogwarts I intended to solely continue with just Jack's POV, but it seems some people do want some of Harry's POV, like someone mentioned wanting to know what happens on the train ride, but Jack would not know that so I wasn't going to write about it. So, this chapter will continue with Jack's POV, but if a bunch of you do want Harry's as well then perhaps I will add his POV too. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!_

 **Chapter 10:**

Once the train had safely left the platform, I apparated to Hogsmeade to start off my life as a teacher. Landing quickly at the Hogsmeade station I made my way up the trail to Hogwarts, I saw Hagrid waiting by the gates and gave him a quick hello before entering the school. I had been told to get to the Deputy Headmistresses room for a bit of a new teacher orientation that would only apply to me this year as Quirell had been a teacher previously at Hogwarts and didn't need the orientation. I walked towards the Gryffindor area of the castle and made my way to her room. I knocked on the door twice and once I heard an affirmative response I opened the door and walked in.

"Good afternoon Professor McGonagall." I said warmly whilst walking in and taking a seat. The elderly professor looked quite similar to what I had imagined and what the movies showed. She was one of the people that I thought did what she could as a Professor at the school. She seemed to hold Dumbledore in awe and as most people did as someone who couldn't make mistakes, but otherwise was always able to hold her own and was quite powerful in her own right.

Her lips quirked slightly, "Please, we are going to be colleagues now so do call me Minerva."

I smiled and said back, "Of course Minerva, then please call me Jack. Now, what do we need to do before the students get here? I'm sure we are on quite the schedule."

"Straight to point Jack, I like it. Now, almost everything is ready for the students to come except of course our own personal rooms. If you could follow me I will show you to where you will be staying and where your classroom is placed." We both got up and I started following her as she continued talking, "We like to place teachers near the house they were part of, so you will be quite close to Ravenclaw house room and Filius, that is Professor Flitwick, will be in and around the same area as you so if you have any issues settling in, I'm sure that he will be able to help. The only other teacher who is around your age is Severus, who was is three years older than you. Here we are, this is your personal quarters. Once you have set up your classroom please come back and set up a password tonight." She said whilst in front of a wooden door with a blue border around it. It was located right next to the Ravenclaw tower, and I could see a similar door close by which appeared to be Flitwick's room. Soon enough we were on the move and Minerva continued talking, "The muggle studies room is located on the first floor. Normally, I would discuss the new syllabus with you but since we now have a structured one in place for muggle studies, there doesn't seem to be any need to converse on the matter. The other teachers are still the same from your time at Hogwarts, Albus is headmaster, Pomona is the Hufflepuff head of house, Severus is in charge of the snakes and I'm in charge of the lions. Oh, and if you ever need any quick assistance simply ask for a Hogwarts house elf, they will always be able to help. Now, here we are. This is your room and I'm sure you remember from your time at Hogwarts the ways to get to any part of the castle. Please do come to the great hall before the students make their way to the castle. Finally, as the weeks go on, just like every other professor, I will give you more responsibilities. Although we seem to be constantly switching professors I hope you do stay on for more than a year." She finished with a small smile.

I quickly responded, "I definitely do want to spend more than a year here teaching the students, and I will be more than willing to take on any additional responsibilities necessary. If possible, I would like to be the first point of contact for any new muggleborns who are struggling to settle in at the school. I have a muggle degree in teaching so I know how their school system worked before they moved here."

She seemed quite pleased at this, "Thank you Jack, I will send the struggling muggleborns to you. Unfortunately, most of the professors here don't know much about the muggle world, so this comes as a real relief to me. Well Jack, I will take your leave for now, I will see you right before the feast." She said before giving me a nod and leaving the classroom.

Now that I was in the classroom, I started to set up the class as I wanted, with the desks in a wide U shape facing towards the front of the class. I then opened up my small expendable pouch which was similar to the one Hermione made in the seventh book of the series. I pulled out a bunch of muggle equipment, such as pens, normal paper, regular notebooks, poster paper, a world globe, and so on. I filled up the class the way a regular muggle classroom would look like. Once I was done I thought that it looked like what a regular high school classroom would be. In place of what would have been a projector, I had purchased a pensieve that projected the images of the memory, this would be used as a way to show my experiences of the muggle world and to get the kids really interested in the class. I always hated classes that were boring as a kid, so I wanted to make sure that these young wizards and witches were always excited to come to muggle studies. It took a few hours before I was completely happy with my set up and it was time to get to the main hall and meet up with the other teachers.

Entering the hall, I saw the other professors already seated there except for Dumbledore. I saw my old head of house and Flitwick did look slightly older than he used to, but he was still his cheery self. Snape was standing slightly away from the rest of the others looking as dour as I had seen in the movies and read in the books. There was also Sprout, who seemed to ooze the same Hufflepuff hospitality that I had known from my time at Hogwarts. Next to her was Trelawney, looking as lost and drunk as always, Minerva, Quirell, who had a turban on which meant that he had already been possessed, and a few other teachers who I could not place. I quickly made my way in and introduced myself to everyone there before taking my spot at the dining table in wait for the students.

First, the older student all scuttled in and sat in their various house benches, all talking to each other and probably going over what happened during their summers. Then Minerva walked in with a line of first years who were waiting to be sorted. They all seemed quite awed at whole castle and especially the ceiling of the great hall. The hat was placed on the stool and it sang what I think was the same song as in the books, which means not much has deviated in terms of the timeline. Minerva then stood up and started the sorting ceremony.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted again.

As more children were sorted I could finally see Harry as he was in the back of the group. He looked to be one of the less nervous of the kids, hopefully that was because I made sure to tell him several times that it didn't matter where he would be sorted in.

Finally, Minerva had reached the P's and soon enough she had called, "Potter, Harry!"

He quite confidently walked up to the podium ignoring the stares, and put the hat on his head. There was a bit of a pause, but not one too long before the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

There were a few gasps due to this, in fact Minerva seemed rather unhappy that Harry had gotten into a house that wasn't hers. Snape looked completed shocked although he quickly pulled himself together with his mask of indifference. Dumbledore didn't seem to give anything away and continued to look onto the kids in his grandfatherly way. Harry made his way towards the Hufflepuff table before sitting himself right next to Susan who gave him a big hug. He then looked up towards the high table and when his eyes found mine I gave him a quick wink to let him know that all was okay and that I approved of his house. He gave me a quick smile in response before turning back to his conversation with Susan. As for the rest of the sorting everyone went to the same houses as in the books.

During the meal I decided that I needed to get Sprout on my side and she would probably need to be someone who knew about my secrets since she was going to be Harry's head of house. So just as the professors were marching out, I asked her if I could have a word with her before the night closes and she invited me to come to her office in 15 minutes.

Once I entered her office I once again introduced myself, "Hello Professor Sprout, I'm Jack Robin Stark, but please call me Jack, I hope your day has been going well?"

She smiled at me, and gestured for me to have a seat before responding, "Yes indeed, it is always great to see a new batch of students enter this school. And please Jack call me Pomona as we are now working together. Now, I don't have much time as it is pretty late, what is it you want to speak of with me?"

I sighed, "Well, this is something that myself and Amelia Bones know off in the world so I was hoping you would please give me a secrecy vow as it does pertain to one of your new charges."

She gave me a calculating look before slowly nodding her head, "If it involves Amelia Bones then this must be quite serious, very well, I Pomona Anne Sprout, swear on my magic not to divulge any of the secrets that Jack Robin Stark tells me unless he gives me permission to do so, or if the information puts people in danger of losing their lives." She finished and a soft glow came around both of us signifying the vow she had just given.

I started my explanation, "Very well, this obviously has to do with Harry Potter. Now, not many people know this but after his parents were killed he was taken by Hagrid, Headmaster Dumbledore and Minerva to Lily's sister's house in Surrey and he was left on the doorstep of their home. Whilst this might have been fine for some families, the fact is that Petunia absolutely hated Lily because she couldn't do magic. Whilst I was at school I had heard enough about Lily's family to know that Petunia wouldn't have anything to do with magic, in fact she had stopped talking to Lily by her sixth year. By some stroke of luck, I was in the neighborhood having just bought a place to stay in Surrey which would be close to the muggle university I was attending and I saw this wizarding baby with a scar on his head being left on the doorstep of this house, so I did the natural thing and took him home. I have raised Harry as my own, in fact he actually does call me his dad, and whilst I could never replace James and Lily I have tried my best to give him a happy childhood. Petunia would have made his life a whole lot worse, in fact she and her son, Dudley, had started calling Harry a freak whenever they would meet him simple because his last name was Potter and she knew that Potter was a magical name. Amelia is the only other person to know about this and she has come and made sure that I do actually take care of Harry. I wanted you to know so that Harry can be open when he talks to you and his head of house and if there is any emergency in terms of him please do let me know. Our current story that explains our connection is that we live in the same neighborhood and I recognized him one day as the Harry Potter and I told him about magic." I stopped once I realized that I had really rambled on for a while.

Pomona at first looked at me with suspicion but as she heard my story she started to smile and was clearly more open to me when I finished my tale. She said, "I am quite glad that you have come to me and told me about this, as I regularly talk to my students about their families and their home lives. I also understand the need for secrecy as Albus has mentioned the young Potter several times in the last few days and clearly has a surprising interest in someone who should just be a student."

I was quite happy that she realized why I had asked for a vow. I said, "Thank you for listening to me. You can definitely talk to Amelia, Harry and Susan about this, and if Harry says you can divulge the information to anyone else who can do so without my permission. I trust the little guy to know who the right people are. Now, as it is late I will take your leave Pomona." I finished as I got up.

"Good night Jack, I will see you tomorrow." She said just before I left her office and made my way to my chambers.

I reached my chambers and told the portrait guarding my room, who was a blond and blue eyed middle-aged woman who was floating in water and simply wanted to be known as the Ravenclaw mermaid, that the password would be 'Inception', one of my favorite movies from the future in my mundane life that no-one would be able to guess, except Harry who I had already told the password too in case he needed to find me. The first day of Hogwarts had been a success and I was glad that Harry was in a house that he had friends in already. I thought that he would be in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff and I think he convinced the hat to put him a house with Susan as she was the only other magical kid he knew.


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 _Sorry for not updating in a long time. It was midterm period and I had a bunch of other family things to do. Anyway, it won't happen again. Thanks for the support as always._

 **Chapter 11:**

Over the first few weeks of our time at Hogwarts I had set into a good rhythm with my classes and time spent with the other teachers. I tried to keep an eye on Harry but I was glad that he seemed to be quite happy in Hufflepuff. We wrote to each other on our notebooks, which at least gave me more contact with him than most parents did with their kids at Hogwarts. He talked about his train ride there and how he sat in his compartment with Susan and Hannah, which was expected. Draco Malfoy did enter Harry's compartment and was much kinder to him than in the books, presumably because Susan was in the same compartment and the little Malfoy knew he needed to be careful around Bones. So, Harry did shake Draco's hand, but didn't leave his compartment. Ronald Weasley also came to see Harry, however he was immediately kicked out when he insulted the houses that were not Gryffindor. Finally, Hermione and Neville came in looking for Neville's toad, so there was very little that changed from the books. Harry had also told me that from his dorm he was close to Susan, Hannah and another girl called Megan. I didn't remember her from the books but she seemed to be the one closes to Harry, as Susan and Hannah often went off to do their own thing. He was also friends with Wayne Hopkins who was a half-blood who also grew up around the muggle world and was definitely as interested in football as Harry was. In fact, around the second weekend Harry had rushed into my classroom asking for a football to use with Wayne, which of course I did provide them.

As at least a month had passed at Hogwarts and I had gotten used to the classes and the paperwork required as part of the job, I now had some more free time to evaluate what changes I could start to orchestrate. My priority as a teacher was to help the students who did need the help, and from the books I knew that the ones from Gryffindor that most needed help was Hermione and Neville, and that seemed to be the way even without Harry in their house. After discussing with Minerva, I was given permission to meet up with her first year Gryffindors as she was extremely busy with her administrative duties. So, I waited outside the door of the transfiguration classroom where the first year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students were almost done with the class. As the kids started to walk out I saw Harry with Megan and Susan with Hannah and I gave them both a wave which they returned. And soon I saw the two sad looking Gryffindors who weren't in conversation with anyone and I called out to them, "Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Granger please could I have a word with you two. I know you are headed to lunch but perhaps a quick detour to my classroom first." I could see both of them getting frightened about them possible being in trouble so I said, "Oh you are definitely not in trouble, nothing like that at all, it's just that I like to talk to students once in a while to see how things are going for them, so follow me!" This appeased them and they followed me up to my room, which for both of them was the first time in my classroom as they were only first year students. I asked for Neville to wait outside as I talked to Hermione in private, and I would call him in afterwards.

Hermione was seated in front of me as I sat behind my desk, she seemed relaxed probably from how close to a muggle classroom it looked. I said, "Ms. Granger, as the muggle studies teacher I have spent most of the last ten years of my life in the muggle world, and as I was once a muggleborn student myself, I take it upon myself to reach out to kids who are similar to myself as a kid and give them a helping hand. Don't worry, I give you my word that nothing that is said here will be shared unless you ask for it to be shared. So, to get to the point, you seem to be struggling to fit in at this school, what seems to be the problem?"

She looks a bit surprised that I could tell she was struggling so she starts talking, "Well Mr. Stark, I just don't feel like I belong with the kids here, it feels like I did back home. There too, none of the kids would talk to me, and I always got horrible looks whenever I did well. But, I was always able to talk to the teachers and they were always nice to me, but here I don't even have that so I'm a bit unsure what to do. My mother always told me to be myself, and at least back home the teachers understood my but I don't think that they do here. Sorry Mr. Stark for rambling on." She finished off almost in tears.

I conjured up a small box of tissue papers and gave it to her. "No problem at all, I asked you in here to talk about these problems. Ms. Granger I can kind of see why it is difficult for you to fit in here. Teachers here and teachers in the muggle world are very different, which I have definitely noticed. See, I have a teaching degree in the muggle world, so I do things quite different from these magical teachers, and that is mostly because they don't have to learn how to be a teacher here before being given the position. Most of magical teachers do not have a teaching qualification so they all do things very differently. That is why in the muggle world teachers spend much more time with particular students making sure they do alright or just talking to them, but that isn't the case here. So, I am here to help you out, but first you have to be ready for the advice and try and take in on board alright? I can't do much about the teachers but I can help you with the other students and making friends, if that's okay with you."

She gave me a quick nod, so I continued, "Now I can tell you are someone who does her absolute best in class and raises her hand for almost all the questions right? Well, this might be causing problems with the kids here and I will tell you why. See most of the kids here have known magic throughout their whole lives, so they come to Hogwarts feeling like they should know more than a muggleborns about magic, and so when completely overshadow them with your intelligence, they might get upset. Some students won't care about this but other do. So, my recommendation is that in class, even if you know the answer give the class a chance to answer before raising your hand. That will probably help. And secondly, try sitting amongst other houses in class, I'm sure the Ravenclaws have a lot in common with you, and maybe some of the Hufflepuffs will be more than happy to be friends with you. Try branch out a bit, and as much as Gryffindor is sometimes considered the most popular house, the others are just as good. Even Slytherins can be fun to hang around with because not all of them dislike muggleborns. So, give the other houses a chance too. Does that seem fair?"

Hermione appeared to have listened to me quite closely and she looked a fair bit happier now that she had some advice on what to do. She nodded back at me and I told her before she left, "Remember, I am always there to help so please do come by whenever you want to." She smiled at me before picking up her bag and leaving the room. I felt that I had made a significant and happy impact on the little Hermione, hopefully her time at Hogwarts will be better this time around.

I then called Neville into the classroom and he came in the same way I had seen him in the movies. He stumbled a bit and he was looking at his shoes constantly, a typical case of a kid who had next to no confidence in his own ability. Which makes sense given what I knew from how his family treated him as well. Rowling made it clear that his family generally thought that Neville was a squib which was why his grandmother was always harsh on him.

"Hello there Mr. Longbottom, how are you doing today? Please take a seat." I said whilst pointing at the chair. He looked up at me in surprise, which I thought was odd, before he took a seat. He didn't respond though, which once again proved how bereft of confidence the kid was.

"Mr. Longbottom, how has your day been?" I said in the same calm tone I was taught to use with kids.

He now looks up at me and starts to say, "Hello pro-professor. I am d-doing well t-thank you." I realized that the stereotypical stutter that he has in most fanfictions is actually what Neville had. And it was quite clear that this was a complete confidence issue and unlike Hermione, who liked teachers and was comfortable around them, Neville wasn't comfortable at all. So, I decided I needed to get more personal with him.

"Hey Neville, my name is Jack Stark and I'm the muggle studies professor, I'm not sure if you remember me. I like to help kids out once in a while, but I can't really do that if you won't talk to me"

He looked up at me and I could see him start to open up, perhaps he didn't really have any good experiences with teachers, or maybe Snape really just scared him that much, "Hello Mr. Stark, umm we can talk."

I nodded, I could tell that all he needed was a couple of pushes and he would be fine. "Alright then Neville, let's start off, I think that you don't think you are any good at magic, is that true?"

He nodded, "I see everyone doing really good around me and I still can't do the first charm we learnt, I'm basically a squib."

"Hold up there Neville. It's not possible for squibs to be invited to Hogwarts you know that, right? And I'm sure we can work on your magic together. Now, what did Ollivander say when you got your wand?" I said trying to get him to talk about his Father's wand.

"Umm, this is my dad's wand, so you would have to ask my grandmother." He said as he paled slightly when talking about his grandmother.

"Ah, well that is all there is to it. Whilst most wands that people use are compatible with their children, that is not always the case. Maybe your magic is more in tune with your mother rather than your father. However, this can all be easily fixed by getting your own wand. Now, I know you have another hour before your next class, perhaps we can go to Diagon Alley now?"

He seemed quite shocked at that revelation, "My grandmother won't let me, she said it would be an honour to use my dad's wand. Does this mean I am not worthy to use it?"

I quickly made sure he thought otherwise, "Not at all Neville, it is just that some wands fit certain people better. There aren't really any better or worse wands, there are just ones that are in tune with you and ones that aren't in tune with you. You are definitely worthy of your parents Neville, they would be proud of you." He smiled and then nodded. We spent the next half an hour getting him a wand and by the time we got back he was significantly happier. When I asked about what he would do with his father's wand, he said he would keep it with him as a way to remember his father.


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer_ _ **:**_ _I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her._

 **Chapter 12:**

After the talks with Hermione and Neville, they seemed to be able to integrate more closely into Gryffindor. Neville's confidence soared as soon as he realized that he could do magic as good if not better than the ones around him. He often topped Gryffindor first year classes, alongside Hermione, and soon the teasing of being a squib stopped. And although he did only slightly better in Potions than originally, he didn't let the belittling of Snape get to him as much. Hermione had started having conversations with her year girls and whilst she was now comfortable with the likes of Parvati Patel and Lavender Brown, I also often saw her in a study group filled with muggleborn first year students that I had set up to help them adapt in the new world. I had asked Harry to be part of the group, and he seemed to be the perfect person to bridge the gap between muggle and magical.

My own personal class was going rather well. With the overhaul of the muggle studies class, and several classes filled with students I had never read about before led to a rather normal teaching job. I had mostly purebloods and half-bloods from lighter wizarding families and a few muggleborns looking for an easy class to take. They younger kids were quite excited whenever I would bring out a Disney animated movie like Peter Pan or Cinderella, and the older ones were fascinated by the different styles of muggle music but especially loved any videos I projected of Michael Jackson dancing and singing.

Watching from afar, I could tell Harry was very much enjoying his time with his new house and was slowly getting to know people from the Ravenclaw house as well. What was interesting to note was his growing friendship with a young Cedric Diggory. A boy who looked eerily similar to the pale-faced Twilight actor, he seemed to have taken Harry as his little brother and would often show him all things magical that Harry might have missed when growing up. He had sort of replaced the influence that the Weasley twins had on Harry in the books. And as much as I loved the twins for their comedic value in the books, Harry had himself found an older brother figure without my interference, unlike with Susan, so I trusted him to know who he trusted as his friends.

I had taken on my role as someone the muggleborns could come to for basically any reason, and so I had started to cut down on the bullying they received. It was really quite surprisingly easy to stop the vicious cycle that Snape had cultivated in Slytherin. Just by generally being around the muggleborns the same way Snape seemed to always be around the Slytherins I would step in whenever the word mudblood came into use and take away points from that person. Soon all the children, especially the likes of Draco Malfoy, had realized that there was a teacher here who would stand up for the muggleborns.

What always amused me was the reaction Snape had whenever I took away points from Slytherin for what they said. In fact, the first time I took away ten points for Draco Malfoy for calling Hermione a mudblood, he asked in his slow intimidating voice, "Jack, for what reason did you have to take away ten points from Slytherin?" This earned a smug expression on Draco's face, almost as if he expected me to cower before Snape.

I responded hotly, "Simple, Severus. He used a derogatory term for a muggleborn and therefore was insulting Ms. Granger simply for having parents who are muggles."

Grinning, thinking that he had me in his trap, he spoke, "And, why would that be considered something that is punishable?"

I smirked, "Well, I just wanted to prevent Mr. Malfoy here from losing a potential friend. Something, if I remember correctly, happened to a fifth year Severus Snape when he called his best friend that foul word, only for her to never speak to him again. We wouldn't want history to repeat itself, now would we?" As soon as I mentioned fifth year, he turned paler than I had ever seen him, and once I had finished he stalked away without so much as backwards glance. By reminding him that I was around for the majority of his most embarrassing moments in school, Snape never again questioned my point taking, however he did bring up the issue with the headmaster which was the first time I had been invited into his office.

My interaction with Dumbledore had been quite minimal so far. Because I sat towards the end of the dining table, I never spoke to him at meals, and he had only ever personally spoken to me once, which was when he welcomed me to Hogwarts. However, during the past few years I had realized that I would have many meetings with the idealized Dumbledore, so I had prepared myself to stand strong and go against the usual reverence most people had when talking to him. Entering his office, which was really packed full of all sorts of odd trinket and had Snape standing to the side, he greeted me with a casual, "Good evening Jack. How have you been so far with your teaching role?"

I nonchalantly responded, "Oh, it's been just as expected so far. I hope your semester has been good too, Albus."

Looking over his spectacles he sighed, as if in disappointment, "I have received news from Severus stating that you brought up a former, now deceased, friend of his in front of the students. I expected better from you Jack."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't realize that I wasn't allowed to bring up Lily Potter in front of students, when Severus himself brings up James in most first year Hufflepuff classes. I was simply doing what I thought was acceptable."

Dumbledore actually had to pause a bit there when he heard that. He slowly responded, "I see, I didn't know of this."

Snape opened his mouth to prevent my follow up, but I quickly started talking, "Well, every class Severus has with the young Mr. Potter, the muggleborns who are in the class tell me that he complains that Mr. Potter is, and I quote, 'just like his arrogant father, always thinking he is better than everyone else.' I didn't realize, Albus, that you let teachers here insult fallen war heroes in front of their children. I hope Severus apologizes to the young boy for insulting a father he never knew in front of him and his classmates."

Snape paled once again, and Dumbledore looked quite flustered actually. He sighed before saying, "Very well, I will make sure Severus does indeed apologize to Mr. Potter. I trust that there will be no more issues between the two of you. Dismissed." I soon become idolized, by the Gryffindors especially, for being the only teacher that would put Snape in his place. This clearly started to filter through as fewer muggleborns were being bullied each day. By constantly being around the muggleborns of all houses, I was around to prevent all sorts of arguments including Draco's demand of a wizard's duel that happened in the books. So, there was no getting stuck in a room with a Cerberus any of Harry, Hermione Neville or Ron. Already, things were going better.

\- Time Skip -

Soon enough Halloween day arrived, and I had preparations to make so that none of the students got hurt due to the troll. In the books, the only student out of the dining hall when Quirrell barges in, was Hermione. And she only left her regular classmates after she was insulted by Ronald Weasley after Charms that day. So, I coincided a regular patrol to be outside of the charms class for first year Gryffindors. I hoped that she would now be strong enough and have enough support from friends so that I wouldn't need to interfere, but I was there in case.

Ron came out of class standing next to Dean Thomas when he said the same thing he said in the book, "It's no wonder no one can stand her, she's a nightmare honestly!"

Hermione was standing next to Lavender and Parvati behind Ron. As soon as he said those words her two friends quickly came to her rescue.

Lavender shouted at him, "She's our friend, isn't that right Parvati?!"

Parvati agreed, "Yes she is!" then turning towards Hermione she said, "don't listen to him Hermione, we're your friends, and you have your muggleborn group in the library who are all your friends. Didn't you even say that Harry Potter was part of the group. I bet he's not Ron's friend."

Seeing Ron's ears start to go red, I decided to interrupt them before a bigger argument broke out, "Alright children, you only have a couple of minutes before your next class. You would do well not to be late." This stopped Ron from speaking and forced the kids to quickly walk towards their next class, taking separate routes there. And although I hated that Harry's name was still being name dropped two months after arriving at Hogwarts, I was impressed by Hermione's friends for standing up to Ron.

Once the feast began I was interested to notice that none of the Hufflepuff first years were celebratory, compared to the rest of the room. McGonagall was the first to remark on it saying, "Pomona, have you noticed that the first year Hufflepuffs seem to be rather quiet today. In fact, they aren't celebrating at all. What is going on?"

Sprout seemed as confused, so I interjected, "Minerva, for most of us today celebrates the end of one of the darkest lords known to wizards, but for one young boy on that Hufflepuff table today is the date he became an orphan. It appears that Mr. Potter's classmates have realized this and are not celebrating for that reason."

McGonagall definitely looked guilty that she had forgotten all about the ramification this night had on Harry. I counted the students at each table and was happy to note that everyone in the castle had showed up for today's feast. I had already spent most of lunch with Harry alone in my private room and just talked about anything I knew about his parents, a tradition we had done ever since I told him he was adopted.

Just as dessert was about to get underway, Quirell barged through the door saying, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know" before fainting on the spot, and even knowing that he was faking it was difficult to notice that Quirell had not really fainted.

Dumbledore stood up and shouted, "Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Which is when I stood up and asked, "Albus, if as Quirell said, the troll is in the dungeons, surely you wouldn't send them to their deaths. I believe it is much safer here, where a few professors can remain, whilst the rest go deal with the troll."

Dumbledore gave it a second's thought before nodding, "Very well, since you suggested the idea, you will stay with the students. I need Severus and Minerva with me, the others can decide either to follow or to stay." He quickly left the room followed by Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick. The rest of us worked together to place enchantments on the door to prevent the possibility of the Troll making its way into the dining hall. We then revived Quirell, who barely showed any disappointment, about not having an opportunity to get the stone. He was a surprisingly good actor, and his stutter really did make it difficult to tell that he was dangerous at all. We waited for around an hour before the four Professors came back to the hall, and explained that they had knocked out the troll in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and that it was safe for the kids to go to their dormitories.

That night was my first proper change to the timeline that directly affects Voldemort. I hoped that he wouldn't change his plans in any way so that I could still use the knowledge I had on him, but I felt exhilarated. And whilst I had helped Harry a ton so far, and I truly did love the kid, it was a different experience to be officially waging war against the likes of Voldemort. I was definitely terrified as well, that Quirell would realize that I knew Voldemort was possessing him, but for now I basked in my tiny but significant victory over Voldemort, hopefully one of many to come.


End file.
